Cocker walks again thanks to determined owner

Rooster with owner and veterinarian
Cocker spaniel named Rooster
Linda Burns of Fleetwood, UK was frantic after finding her three-year-old cocker spaniel unable to move. She adopted him a year ago and named him Rooster for his red coat. Mrs. Burns rushed him to the PDSA PetAid hospital in Blackpool. Veterinarians suspected his paralysis was due to a disc injury. After 2 days in the hospital, Rooster showed no signs of improvement and his family was faced with the likelihood he might never recover. Mrs. Burns had two choices. The first choice would be the daunting task of caring for an invalid dog on a daily basis. The second choice was euthanasia.

Mrs. Burns could not bring herself to euthanize Rooster. “He was only two-years-old and I thought he deserved a chance at life,” said Mrs. Burns. “I knew the odds of him recovering were very slim and I didn’t want him to suffer any longer, but I could still see the old Rooster when I looked into his eyes and I thought to myself, ‘I can do this.'” The PDSA PetAid hospital provided Mrs. Burns training in caring for Rooster at home. For the next two weeks, Mrs. Burns cared for Rooster 24 hours a day. Rooster needed help eating, going to the bathroom, and getting in bed. She even gave Rooster physical therapy. Slowly, Rooster responded to Mrs. Burns’ tireless efforts and began walking again.

Four months later and Rooster is walking again. Mrs. Burns says, “We couldn’t have done it without the support and guidance of PDSA. Rooster needed so much treatment and we would never have been able to afford to pay for it all.” The People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals of the Poor (PDSA) is a charitable organization providing veterinary care for low income pet owners in the United Kingdom.

Update on Hoshi

He went to the vet yesterday and weighs 23.5lbs. My hefty boy! Now he’s up to date on all his vaccinations and had his nails trimmed. The tech said they were a little long. I haven’t been clipping them. I never clipped Gabby’s nails because they never needed it with all the walks he had. We are going to try FortiFlora to see if his stools firm up. I just haven’t figured out what to put it in.

Hoshi was funny yesterday. I was walking him and we past a lawn care van. It had a life-size decal of a man fertilizing the grass. Hoshi saw him and backed away. He stared at the van and started barking. Even two to three houses away, Hoshi continued to bark at the van. At the vet they had a tissue dispenser in the shape of a small dog. Hoshi had to examine it to see if it was friendly.

Google approves dog fighting apps

Google Android app: Dog Wars
Google Android app: Dog Wars

Google’s Android Market has given the green light for dog fighting content unlike Apple which finds the material objectionable. KageGames’ DogWars was the first dog fighting game approved under Google’s policy. KageGames apparently knows their dog fighting app won’t pass iTunes guidelines: “A game that will never be in the iPhone App Store.” Why? According to Apple, “Applications must not contain any obscene, pornographic, offensive or defamatory content or materials of any kind (text, graphics, images, photographs, etc.).”

Dog fighting is felony in all fifty states. KageGames has set up their Web site in South America making them difficult to prosecute. In crime ridden areas such as Detroit, these apps only romanticize dog fighting and the abuse of animals.

Droid Phone Users

If you find this dog fighting app objectionable, report it.

  • Click your application Launcher button
  • Click the Android Market icon
  • Search “dog wars” and click on Dog Wars – Beta
  • Scroll down to the bottom and click “Flag as inappropriate”

There is also a facebook page against the site.

Cockapoo breeder faces $250,000 bond

Matted brown cocker
Neglected cocker found at CT home. Photo NBC Connecticut

Gloria Marriott (A.K.A. Linda Snow, Mary Howard) was offered a plea bargain of nine months in jail in return for having her bond reduced from $250,000 to $49,000 dollars.  Charges stem from an animal cruelty case when she was arrested February 18, 2011.  Police became suspicious when overpowered by the smell of feces and urine then discovered five dogs in neglectful states some with matted fur, all without food or water.  Marriott faces five counts of animal cruelty and running a puppy mill from her Mystic, Connecticut home. Regardless of her plea bargain she will remain jailed for violating probation in Massachusetts where she was convicted of animal cruelty–over 100 sick dogs were found on her property.  Marriott runs the Web site conneticutcockapoos.com with the tagline “Breeding For Quality – Raised With Love.”

All five dogs have been adopted and placed in good homes including the brown cocker spaniel pictured above.  Drew and Londa Wesche adopted two of the dogs including the cocker renaming her Katie. “They are great. We couldn’t have asked for better. I think they are kind of like POWs. They formed this bond in the awful situation they were in, and they can’t not be together.”

Fallen cocker saved by rescuers

A buff cocker spaniel named Mocha who fell over steep cliff was rescued by Los Angeles based Small Animal Rescue Team (SmART).  It happened Wednesday, when Mocha and his owner were walking along steep terrain in Porter Ranch, California. The rescue took place late at night in heavy winds with rescuers repelling on the steep cliff with safety harnesses.  Rescuers brought Mocha to safety using a small stretcher.  Mocha appeared well but was taken to a vet for examination.  Then anxious owner was grateful to have him returned.

SmART is a group of trained rescuers certified in Swiftwater Rescue and rope rescue.  SmART is the first animal rescue team in the country. Six members are animal control officers and one Registered Veterinary Technician.  SmART performs urban search and rescue for small animals in the Los Angeles area.